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  Straits Times 24 Jan 07
Can 'food for trash' project be extended?
Letter from Poh Wei Leong

Channel NewsAsia 21 Jan 07
Residents in Hong Kah take part in RecycleXchange programme
 By Satish Cheney

SINGAPORE: Turning old newspapers and aluminium cans into everyday groceries is what the South West Community Development Council and National Environment Agency's South West Regional Office are doing for residents living in the Hong Kah North Division.

Together with waste management company, Colex Holdings, the RecycleXchange programme intends to make recycling a daily part of life for heartlanders.

From February 1, residents can hand in their recyclable rubbish at participating RCs (residents' committee) and receive grocery coupons. According to the special exchange rate that was formulated, an 11-kilogramme stack of old newspapers will translate into a kilogramme of rice. Residents can redeem their groceries during quarterly community redemption events.

Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, says: "If it is successful--response is good and implementation is smooth--we will roll it out to other constituencies within the district. In fact, we already have one more constituency that is considering doing this and that is Yew Tee, together with SembEnviro."

A family from China, who have just become Singapore citizens, say they are fully supportive of the programme. Ye Ruidong, a Hong Kah resident, says the new programme makes it very convenient for residents to continue recycling.

The South West CDC hopes the RecycleXchange programme will also rally the community to become more environmentally conscious. CNA/so

Straits Times 24 Jan 07
Can 'food for trash' project be extended?
Letter from Poh Wei Leong

IF SINGAPORE wants to achieve sustainable development, the South West Community Development Council (CDC) programme where recyclable materials can be exchanged for food is a positive step ('Hong Kah residents can cash in on trash'; ST, Jan 22).

'Sustainable development' has become a holy grail for urban planners and developers alike who seek to achieve an ideal development such that it 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (as defined by the 1987 Brundtland Commission Report).

A country achieves economic sustainability if it is able to sustain an economic system, particularly through fashioning an urban design such that it meets the needs of the public, especially the urban poor, while embellishing the naturalness of the urban environment.

Lessons can be drawn from a case study of Curitiba, Brazil, where the urban poor live in shanty towns called favelas. Jaime Lerner, a planner for the Brazilian city, had come up with a cost-effective programme for the people to collect the city's garbage and use the money from such collection to purchase food for the favelas' poor.

This carrot approach is also extended to recycling, where people can buy recyclables from residents to sell them.

A feasibility study can be conducted on the new South West CDC programme, and, if it is found viable, extended to the rest of Singapore. This model can then be developed further, to be shared with other countries interested in achieving economic sustainability.
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